


Not a Hero

by Pearl_Unplanned



Series: Cap_Ironman Bingo 2015 [14]
Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel 1872 (Comics)
Genre: 1872, Alternate Ending, Cap_Ironman Bingo, Doesn't Follow Comics, M/M, Not A Happy Ending, Stony Bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-12 19:46:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5678410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pearl_Unplanned/pseuds/Pearl_Unplanned
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony Stark was not a hero. But he damn sure was a good man. (1872)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not a Hero

**Author's Note:**

> Bingo prompt: Heroic Sacrifice

 

            He was never supposed to be a hero. That was never part of the plan. Bad guys didn't do good things. That's why Tony Stark had settled on drinking--it didn't hurt anyone, because he couldn't bear to hurt anyone anymore, and he wasn't able to do any good, either. Bad guys didn't do good things. Why should he ever be able to do something bad or good ever again? He didn't want to hurt anyone, and he didn't deserve to be a hero.

            There was only one man in all of Timely who actually deserved to be a hero. Of all of the cowards and crooks, losers and lowlifes who actually lived in the forgotten land of Timely, there was one man who stood above the rest of them, one lone star in the endless night sky. Sheriff Steve Rogers, the only hero that Tony had ever seen before.

            He thought that the man hated him, and so he did everything that he could to _make_ Rogers hate him more than what should've been possible. The man already thought he was a disrespectful, no-good drunk. He'd locked him up more times than Tony could actually remember--in fact, he couldn't remember most of what happened, up until he woke up in the jail cell at the Sheriff's office in the morning. At least, that's how it used to be, because then Tony stopped drinking as much but still did crazy things so that he'd be locked up, but he wouldn't be too drunk to remember anything.

            Tony couldn't exactly say when Steve stopped treating him like a nuisance and when he started acting a little nicer. It wasn't that Tony didn't enjoy the conversations he had with Steve when he wasn't quite drunk yet, or that he didn't like the gentle touches that Steve gave him. For how large Steve's hands were, he was surprisingly _very_ gentle. But Tony didn't deserve that. Tony didn't deserve gentle.

            It was the last time that the Sheriff had locked him up in the cell that Tony had ruined everything. He wasn't even as drunk as he could've been, because he hadn't been drinking as much as he could have, since he wanted to remember the conversations he had with Steve, and the soft look in his eyes when the blond looked at him.

            "I reckon I could make you happy," Tony had mumbled, because really, that was all that he wanted to do. Steve deserved to be so much happier than he actually seemed to be, and anything that he could do to make Steve happier, he wanted to make Steve happy. He really did. He just never meant to say it aloud.

            "You do," Steve had said to him, his voice quiet. It was late, and no one would be stopping by, so the cell was open and Steve was sitting next to him, running his fingers through Tony's hair while Tony's head laid in the blond's lap. He was dizzy, and he was so sure that this must've been a dream. "Not many people always want to be my friend, but you've always stuck around, Tony. I love havin' you around."

            "Even when I'm singing?" Tony asked, looking up at Steve.

            He was met with a soft smile. "Even when you're singing."

            But he didn't deserve that. What was his life worth, really?

            That was just a distant memory, though. He acted like he didn't remember, but he still got the gentle touches and soft looks, and the Sheriff should've been so much harder on him because he was _trying_ to cause trouble, he was trying to be a headache. But today, he wasn't going to be a headache. Today he was just drunk, and Steve was just a hero.

            Today he remembered who he used to be.

            Waking up on the floor, passed out from what he'd been drinking earlier that morning, had become strange, because typically when he'd had far too much to drink, Steve would drag his ass back over to the Sheriff's office and stick him in the back room until he got sober enough to leave on his own two feet. The floor had become a strange and uncomfortable place, and he _knew_ that something was wrong with Steve because of it.

            Steve cared too much about people. That was his flaw. So when anything happened, Tony knew that it was Steve who was in danger. It was always Steve. If he had just cared a little less, then he wouldn't be in as many dangerous situations.

            And that's where he had to be. Steve was in danger.

            Getting to his feet was a lot harder than it should've been, but when he did, Tony managed to stumble over to the window. Of course it was Steve standing there, demanding justice, calling for action from the people. The people, who were just as much of cowards as Tony was.

            Steve deserved better.

            No one seemed to notice the gun  that was raised against their Sheriff. Or, if anyone noticed, no one seemed to _do_ anything about it. No one seemed to care. But the strangest thing was that Tony _did_ care. He'd come to Timely because that's where cowards went, to live among the worthless, and yet somehow he'd managed to find someone to care about.

            Tony Stark wasn't a hero when he pushed Steve Rogers out of the way of the bullet. He wasn't a hero when Steve cradled his dying body close, and cried as he told Tony not to die, because he _needed_ him. He wasn't a hero when he took his last breath, gave his last smile, and closed his eyes for the last time.

            But he damn sure was a good man.


End file.
